City-Wide Trauma Awareness, Sensitivity and Healing Through Relationships
2.3 Adverse Childhood Experiences Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is a term coined by researchers, Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda, and their colleagues, in their study conducted from 1995 to 1997. ACEs refer to traumatic experiences in a per- son’s life occurring before the age of 18. These include: • experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect; • witnessing violence in the home or community; • having a family member attempt or die by suicide. In addition, aspects of the child’s environment that can challenge their sense of safety (Butler, 2020) are also identified and include children’s experiences of • substance misuse; • mental health problems; • instability due to parental separation or incarceration of a parent, sibling, or other members of the house- hold ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use problems in adolescence and adulthood. ACEs also have the potential to negatively impact education, job opportunities, and earning potential . However, having a key person or one good adult in our lives is linked to better outcomes and over- all health (Jigsaw, 2022) 2.4 The one good adult/ The key person Research (Nicholson et al., 2019) suggest that just one positive adult can dramatically improve the outlook of a child impacted by trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). This relationship acts as buffer against toxic stress and has the potential to change the course of a child’s life. Those who spend more time with children have a greater opportunity to provide the tools that can really have a positive impact ‘Envisioning Cork as Ireland’s first trauma sensitive city fills my heart with joy & so much hope. Understanding the impact of Adversity and Trauma, help us all to find ways to look through the lens of “what happened” instead of “what’s wrong with you’. Trauma is common and if you work with people you work with trauma. However, we also know what can help mitigate trauma, a responsive, compassionate, and caring relationship. In fact, all trauma sensitive practices begin with a caring & compassionate relationship. A smile has the potential to change a person’s brain & your smile might be the single only smile someone sees in a day. Our daily interactions that we all have with each other are very important and relationships are built in the small moments. We all need to be aware and ready to play our part in healing the impact of trauma and adversity. To me, Cork as a trauma sensitive city means a city rooted in empathy & validation of all people’s life experiences & is a city that commits to building consistent and caring relationships. As Bruce Perry highlights, ‘Relationships are the agents of change, and the most powerful therapy is human love. People not programmes change people.’ Dr Judith Butler , Munster Technological University Quote
Cork Trauma Sensitive City
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